Male cat displaying unseemly dominance

[BlondeSpiders]

I have a weird situation, and I hope someone can offer advice!

I had 2 12 year old cats, a boy and a girl. The boy (Louis) has always been a gentle giant; wouldn't bite you or swat if his tail was on fire.

5 weeks ago we adopted 2 month old boy kittens. After about 2 weeks, the littler kitten Eddie started trying to bond with Louis: sidling up to him, rubbing against him, exposing his belly, etc. Eddie is kind of sensitive and we thought he just wanted to be liked by Louis. After some initial resistance, Louis warmed up to him; grooming, and letting Eddie nap with him in his bed. Because Eddie is so playful, there was some ear-biting and growling when he went too far. Normal, and Eddie seems super happy for the attention.

Last night things got weird. Instead of the usual ear-biting admonishments, Louis had clamped down on the back of Eddie's neck and spread his legs in a weird way. I saw "it" (forgive, I'm at work) at full attention and headed toward Eddie. I separated them for the time being but kept a close eye on both.

10 minutes later, Louis bites down on Eddie's neck again and moves in position to mount him. I put the kittens out of the bedroom for the night.

This is my first boy cat, and in the 5 years I've had him I never saw this behavior. I understand there are dominance struggles between male cats, and now there are 3 boys to one female. Louis outweighs Eddie 5 times over, so Eddie can't really defend himself.

Do I need to do anything or let the cats sort it out themselves? I think I could have gone my entire life without having see a cat's wedding tackle. Please advise!

Brittany

The kittens' IG if you're curious:  www.instagram.com/eddieandbenkitties

[charlatti]

Are they all neutered? Vet checked?

[BlondeSpiders]

Neutered yes, and they've all been to the vet recently. Not about this.

It might be worth mentioning that Louis has severe kidney problems. We're hoping for at least 3 more months with him, but it's hard getting him to eat.